KIV-3 Starfighter Part 1

This is the first part of a series on the designing and building of a starfighter model from cardboard. The techniques employed here are simple and effective and result in a light weight, semi-scale model. The attempted scale is 1/48. This is in keeping with many of my previous models.

The design is a refined drawing from my youth of the principle starfighter deployed by the Votainion Empire. The KIV-3 or as the allies called it, the Eight Fighter.

Here is a sketch of the design.

I started with choosing a diameter for the fuselage. Finding no suitably sized cardboard tubes around the house, I decided to make my own from scratch. Matte board was used to cut out four bulk heads using the diameter of a pill bottle. Notches were cut on two sides of the bulk heads and balsa wood keels were fashioned to join them. I used Elmer’s glue for this and all construction except where noted.

I next cut out the “Eight” shaped wings from matte board. I cut them apart so that they fit snugly along the keels and over lapped. This was to give them strength. I probably would make them one piece if I were to do this model again.

The nose cone or cockpit area of the fighter was fashioned from regular paper. I’m not sure I will keep that, but a white glue and water wash may need to be applied to harden it. In the following picture the nose cone and wings are just sitting in position.

More half bulk heads will be glued along the body of the fuselage for support when I cover them with poster board. Each step is limited to the time it takes the glue to dry. If you were doing nothing but building this model, you could get quite a bit done in a day. But since I have kids and pets and a life, I work on it about ten minutes a night.